Kyle Calder has sometimes allowed himself to stop and think about how his season has unfolded over the past two months.

In late October, the veteran winger was without a team and pondering his options if an NHL club didn't come calling.

He was signed by the Ducks on Oct. 28. After a brief stint in the East Coast Hockey League and an eye injury, he has been playing on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

“I sit back and realize that,” Calder said. “I put that into my game. Things could be a lot worse. I have to take advantage of the situation that I have in front of me and just work hard. That's where I got to where I am today.”

Injuries to Joffrey Lupul and Teemu Selanne led to the move. Coach Randy Carlyle could have stuck with Bobby Ryan on Getzlaf's line but instead chose Calder for his work getting the puck down low and along the boards.

DETROIT -- Since technology hasn't advanced to the point where I could beam up from my living room to the stands at Joe Louis Arena, I had to rely on the old-fashioned airplane to get me here and to my misfortune, my travel schedule made it impossible to get to practice.

I know, I know. No excuse.

But a little cross-country flight isn't going to stop this intrepid reporter from providing a little update on some Ducks that are on the mend as I look out on both downtown Detroit and Windsor across the river in Ontario from high up in the Renaissance Center on a clear, 14-degree night.

-- Even as they come off a dramatic overtime win at home over Dallas, the Ducks are wary of calling it a moment to turn around their season given that they've taken two or three steps back for every one they go forward.

“It's hard to say if you're going to use it,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “Every coach would love to say you're going to use it and every team would like to use a win like this as a springboard for us to play to a higher level.”

Some quick thoughts from the Ducks' practice sesssion at Honda Center on a very rainy Monday:

-- In theory, if Ducks coach Randy Carlyle applies his "if you're win, you're in" approach to tomorrow's home game against Dallas, it would mean that Jonas Hiller would get the start given that Jean-Sebastien Giguere took the loss in Sunday's 4-3 shootout defeat against Ottawa.

The fact is Giguere and Hiller have been alternating starts the last four games since Hiller got the nod against the Kings after a start Giguere made against Phoenix in which he played well but lost in a shootout to Phoenix.

Neither goalie has won since and it's left Giguere wondering what would have happened had Carlyle stuck with him during a run where he went 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average.

"If you keep going, good things could happen," Giguere acknowledged. "Sometimes a judgment call is more appropriate than that. I think at this point, Jonas and I have got to just take it one day at a time, not worry too much about the next game and just worry when you're called upon and try to give the team a chance."

-- The Ducks have put an emphasis on their defensemen getting more involved in the offense and putting pucks on the net. The last five games have been a sharp difference as the members of the blue line have put an average of 10.4 shots on goal compared to just 6.6 shots in the first 19 contests.

Because of that, the production on the scoresheet has increased as a result. Scott Niedermayer has two goals and two assists on the homestand, Ryan Whitney and James Wisniewski each have a goal and two assists while Nick Boynton got his first goal of the season.

"There's a lot of factors that go into that," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "Earlier on, we weren't winning enough puck battles down low and maintaining offensive zone time to get that puck up [high]. And then when we'd make a pass, maybe it was a bobbled pass. Maybe the defenseman didn't feel that he could shoot the puck with any confidence to get it by the first guy.

Kyle Calder's career with the Ducks is all of four games but it is enough for the veteran winger to start to feel as if he's part of the team.

Calder's already dealt with the alternative of not having a job in the NHL and going back to the minor leagues to work his way back.

“It's good to be back in the groove of things,” said the former 20-goal scorer, who signed with the Ducks on Oct. 28 and played five games for the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. “Unfortunately, it hasn't been the best four games here. But I see some positive stuff coming out of this. There's positive feedback all over.

“I'm excited to move forward and hopefully it just gets better from here.”

PITTSBURGH – Kyle Calder trudged off the ice at Mellon Arena, plopped himself down in front of his stall and starting pulling his gear off in a routine he's repeated thousands of other times in his NHL career.

But this particular day was different and Calder knows it.

After an off-season in which he went unsigned and had to resort to a pro tryout in order to fight for a job, the 30-year-old winger is back in the league with the Ducks and figures to play tonight against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

“That's where I wanted to be all year,” Calder said. “It's good to be back. There are long roads and long rides ahead for a lot of people. It's a tougher road but it's good to be back.”

Calder wasn't re-signed by the Kings after spending the last two seasons with them. In September, he joined the Ducks in training camp and went scoreless in four exhibition games.